Business
Plans
No business plan
survives first contact with reality.
paraphrasing
Prussian Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke
Be careful when starting your business plan as there is no bigger
sinkhole for entrepreneurial energy. Every budding entrepreneur sets
out to write the finance
winning plan in 30 days and ends up spending two to three times that
long at it.
What's makes it worse is that maybe 5% of business plans are actually
read
by anyone. The rest are never even cracked open. People who have no
clue about entrepreneurship will always emphasize the importance of
having a well researched business plan before you start. Frankly, these
people really ought to just shut up. Asking for your business plan is
also an indirect way of getting rid of you. When someone you have
tagged as a potential investor asks for a copy after only a few minutes
of conversation, it's almost a sure bet
that they lack the intestinal fortitude to just say that they're not
interested.
But don't take it from me. Read what America's leading academic on
entrepreneurship says about business plans.
Business
Plan Samples
So what then if not a business plan? I recommend that in most cases
you begin with a well thought out business
model and an expanded executive summary of 2 to 5 pages. If these
two items are not enough to line up a face to face meeting with
potential investors, then nothing will be.
Still want to work on a business plan?
Here are some well formatted examples for your viewing pleasure.
Executive Summary Example
Business Plan Example #1
Business Plan Example #2
Business Plan Example #3
What about business plan
books?
Books on how to write a business plan are all pretty well the same
since every plan must answer the
same basic set of questions. You can in most cases find all the tips
you need online for free. See
the recommended reading page as well.
Revisionum
ad infinitum
Be wary of getting caught up in this game as it's a bottomless sinkhole
for your time and energy. It starts off when the first investor you
pitch to gives you his personal feedback on how to improve your plan.
So you go back home and spend a day or two rewriting it. Then the
second investor you pitch to gives you her unique feedback on how to
improve the plan. So you invest another day incorporating those
changes. Of course the third party you do your dog & pony show for
gives you yet more business plan improvement advice.
If you're quick, you will begin to see two facts: 1) that a lot of
these suggestions contradict each other, and 2) the person who gave you
the free advice probably never really read your plan and is not really
interested in your deal.
Lesson: invest the time in rewrites only if you are assured the
prospect is really serious about investing in your venture. Otherwise
just remind yourself next time someone offers you a pearl of wisdom
that business plan improvement ideas are like belly buttons--everyone
and his canine companion has
one.
Occasionally, but rarely, someone will offer a suggestion which is
worth the time called for to incorporate into your plan. The trick is
in recognizing it.
How to
Think Like a Successful Entrepreneur
Find out about this 11 page special
report today.
Learn How to Sound Like a Stanford MBA
It's funny how the
very first thing that comes to mind when business
plans are mentioned is the Dack BS Generator.
This is a very useful tool for making your plan sound as if it was
written by a team of Stanford MBA students.
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